“The Barbados Egg and Poultry Producers Association (BEPPA) has never denied what I have written.”
by Dr.Robert D. Lucas
Last week and yesterday, on the program “Down To Brass-tacks” hosted by Mr. Tony Marshall, a couple of callers made some comments on the local poultry industry. Last week’s caller extolled the quality of local turkey, stating that it was superior to the imported product and ended up imploring listeners to buy “Bajan”. Yesterday’s caller, who was based in America, wondered why poultry in general was so expensive in Barbados.
I have some comments to make, primarily on the quality of the local product. However, before I do so, it is useful to re-cap some of the reasons why local poultry is so expensive.
About ninety-nine percent of the inputs for the industry have to be imported. These inputs include eggs for hatching; corn and soy as ingredients for rations; medicines needed for the welfare of the birds; processing equipment; packaging materials and chicken wire for the pens. All of these require the use of foreign exchange and the only appreciable local inputs are labor, some water and cement for the floors of the pens. There is, therefore little savings in terms of foreign currency outflow.
Additionally, there is the fact that the Barbados Egg and Poultry Producers Association (BEPPA), like the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is a cartel.
BEPPA controls the feed plant, the importation of eggs, and the majority of slaughter- houses and so on. The situation is not alleviated by the fact that, Archer Daniel Midlands (ADM) is also associated with the production of local poultry. The track record of litigation against ADM is well known in the USA, the European Union and Brazil and elsewhere.
Water Added!
In Barbados, water is added to the poultry carcasses in the spin-chiller/slush ice tanks; I have pointed this out in numerous letters to Bajan newspapers over a two-decade period. In a letter by me entitled “Why no hue and cry over poultry?” I also pointed out that as of January 2002 (letter to the editor, February 2002), according to the food Safety Inspection Services (FSIS) of the USA, “the amount of water retained in poultry will be limited to that which is an inevitable part of the process used to meet food safety requirements.” In other words, added water would be thing of the past. Lobbying on behalf of the poultry industry in the USA, delayed enforcement by one year and act came into force on the 9th January 2003.
The BEPPA knew about the banning of water added to poultry, since its then president alluded to the deferred status of the act in 2002. The addition, of water to poultry has also been prohibited in the countries of the European Union. If one wants to refer to quality in food, one must use the pure unadulterated product as the index of excellent.
The very fact that water has been added to local poultry, means that the latter has been adulterated by an extraneous input. Therefore, one cannot compare the quality of an adulterated poultry product with an unadulterated one. In addition, since the rations are made from imported ingredients and the eggs are also imported, the genotypes of the rations’ raw materials and poultry must be the same as the sources from which they were purchased.
In other words, one is starting off with a level playing field, the only digression, being the addition of water to the local birds. Therefore, the local product must be of inferior quality.
There is also the food safety angle to consider.
For those who talk about the addition of steroids in the imported poultry, the use of steroids is not permitted in birds slaughtered in federally inspected plants. The USDA symbol appearing on packaging film indicates the birds were inspected in federal plants. I have in the past in numerous letters to your newspaper, alluded to the use of steroids in the drinking water given locally to poultry. The Barbados Egg and Poultry Producers Association (BEPPA) has never denied what I have written.
Finally, my position vis-à-vis the local poultry industry is well known. I have a problem with 1.5 % of the population, holding the entire island hostage to high prices and a rabid dislike for competition.
Sincerely
Robert D. Lucas, PH.D.
Food Biotechnologist.
Bridgetown, Barbados
BFP editor’s note: BFP created the main title and made some minor formatting changes to the article for clarity.
Barbados Free Press 
It is difficult to ask a rat to watch cheese. If the poultry industry is holding the bellies of the people of Barbados hostage with inferior products then it is time for our people to return to natural agriculture and in the meantime fast from the foods that are harming them. Be vegan for awhile and heal from the intentions of those that do not love and care for your wellness. Shem Hotep (I go in Peace and Tranquility)!
you can buy a chikcen in Brasil for about $1.50 US…..import them….
George Bernard Shaw was vegan and went blind for lack of protein to nerves and muscles in his ocular passages – Semper Carnivore!
Sardines? $1.95 & Ramen Noodles? $0.99 Meal for less than 5$ with Meat!
Best way of all? Giant African Snails, in fact BFP already had a video on how to cook them, just pop over to Brandons and get some – I am very actively looking at doing so and videoing the experience
Ian, you should probably give the ones that was eating dog poop a miss. The flavour in dem ones might be a bit off (but yuh never know, dem ones might taste de sweetest).
Following the arguments of Dr. Lucas it would seem that we need to close down all of our food & beverage producers here in Barbados because as he rightly points out, the vast majority of the inputs are purchased from overseas & the end products are way too expensive. So bye bye Banks Brewery, all the bakeries, PineHill Dairies, Barbados Bottlers, pepper sauce & condiment producers (plenty foreign pepper mash & onions being imported), sugar factories, Peronne meats and all such other food producers….Realistically Dr Lucas are you saying that we should produce nothing in Barbados due to the use of foreign inputs? Should we just import every last food commodity and leave it at that? And why stop at food why not stop the craft vendors from selling their wares as they use inputs such as paints or beads etc purchased overseas……It is useless comparing our prices to countries with populations of over 300 million when we are a rock in the Atlantic with 280,000 folks. Doc may I advise you to get off your obsessive high horse and enjoy some delicious local baked chicken.
Holy Toledo I almost forgot….Bye bye the entire rum industry of Barbados (80% imported molasses not to mention all the glass, labels etc)….
I wondered why I can never get “breast” at KFC. Thighs, backs , wings(sometimes), but very seldom , breasts.If you do get , at Over $6.00 each, they look like Pigeon breasts.What a rip off.
@Green Monkey – You purge them like crabs, three days on hibiscus leaves or cabbage
To Alice in Dreadland: I am not suggesting any such thing. My comments referred specifically to the poultry industry. The latter is protected left right and center by government’s bounded tax of over 300% on poultry imports.The rum industry is not subjected to such a high tax. You do not hear the rum producers keeping noise over the importation of foreign alcoholic drinks. The local poultry industry is opposed to any type of competition. There was if I an not wrong resistance to a proposal for the importation of poultry from Guyana. There are objections to importation of poultry parts,even when there is plentiful supply of fish. At some point,
poultry will be too expensive, since input costs are expected to increase in
the future. No attempts have been made to produce a local ration. It can be done.
chicken wings and turkey wings.The imports of the latter have always been blame for lack of sales in the poultry industry. Even when there are a plentiful supply of fish, blame is placed on iports of poultry parts. the industry would not even try to produce feeds locally . The latter can be done. In any event, the way things are ration imputs are going to be increasing constantly in cost. at some point,the cost of chicken produced locally will be prohibitive. If a countyr of about 300,000
Barabadhus doan make shit.
Badmc buy onions for jus over 6us a bag, dockside,here in BIM.
sell at 300% profit or more.
Little guys here tryin to get a buck,bustin dey butts.Fer NUFFIN.
Wid dem price so high,if onion 6 $ why dem locals payin 50$B a bag at BADMC
BADMC fat cats drivin BIG ke’ars.HMMMMMmmm aint smellin so good.
Same all over fer de small guy,but who give a shit.
Jus brek de donkey back.